This is just a respnise to the maori life written by Zane. I dont want eveyrone to think that Maori are all drug taking gangmember who bash kids. Some are but not all are.
Here is a list of positive Maori role models.

Wikipedia was used for lots of this ay...

Sir Apirana Turupa Ngatair Apirana Turupa Ngata (3 July1874 - 14 July1950) was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori culture and language

gata was born to a Māori family in Te Araroa (then called Kawakawa), a small coastal town about 175 kilometres north of Gisborne, New Zealand. His iwi was Ngāti Porou, and his father was considered an expert in traditional lore. Ngata was greatly influenced both by his father and by his great-uncle Ropata Wahawaha (who had led Ngāti Porou forces in the Māori Wars). Ngata was raised in a Māori environment, speaking the Māori language, but his father also ensured that Ngata learned about the Pākehā world, believing that this understanding would be of benefit to Ngāti Porou. Ngata attended primary school in Waiomatatini before moving on to Te Aute College, where he received a Pākehā-style education. Ngata performed well, and his academic results were enough to win him a scholarship to Canterbury University College (now the University of Canterbury), where he studied political science and law. He gained a BA in politics in 1893 before completing an LLB at the University of Auckland in 1896. Ngata's success marked the first time a Māori person had completed a degree at a New Zealand university.

In 1895, a year before finishing his law degree, Ngata had married Arihia Kane Tamati, who was also of the Ngāti Porou iwi. Ngata had been betrothed to Arihia's elder sister, Te Rina, but she died before the wedding. So as consolation, Apirana was given the younger sister who was only 16 at the time of their marriage.

Apirana and Arihia had 15 children together, of whom three boys and one girl died in infancy, while six girls and five boys survived into adulthood.

Shortly after Ngata's legal qualifications were recognised, he and his wife returned to Waiomatatini, where they built a house. Ngata quickly became prominent in the community, making a number of efforts to improve the social and economic conditions of Māori across the country. He also wrote extensively on the place of Māori culture in the modern age. At the same time, he gradually acquired a leadership role within Ngāti Porou, particularly in the area of land management and finance.

Ngata quickly distinguished himself in Parliament as a skilled orator. He worked closely with his friend Carroll, and also worked closely with Robert Stout. Ngata and Stout, members of the Native Land Commission, were often critical of the government's policies towards Māori, particularly those designed at encouraging the sale of Māori land. In 1909, Ngata assisted John Salmond in the drafting of the Native Land Act.

In late 1909, Ngata was appointed to Cabinet, holding a minor ministerial responsibility for Māori land councils. He retained this position until 1912, when the Liberal government was defeated. Ngata followed the Liberals into Opposition.

In the First World War, Ngata was highly active in gathering Māori recruits for military service, working closely with Reform Party MP Maui Pomare. Ngata's own Ngāti Porou were particularly well represented among the volunteers. The large Māori commitment to the war, much of which can be attributed to Ngata and Pomare, created a certain amount of goodwill from Pākehā towards Māori, and assisted Ngata's later attempts to resolve land grievances.

Although in Opposition, Ngata enjoyed relatively good relations with his counterparts across the House in the Reform Party. He had a particularly good relationship with Gordon Coates, who became Prime Minister in 1925. The establishment of several government bodies, such as the Māori Purposes Fund Control Board and the Board of Māori Ethnological Research, owed much to Ngata's involvement.

During this time, Ngata was also active in a huge variety of other endeavours. The most notable, perhaps, was his involvement in academic and literary circles - in this period, he published a number of works on significant Māori culture, with Nga moteatea, a collection of Māori songs, being one of his better known works. Ngata was also heavily involved in the protection and advancement of Māori culture among Māori themselves, giving particular attention to promoting the haka, poi dancing, and traditional carving. One aspect of his advocacy of Māori culture was the construction of many new traditional meeting houses throughout the country. Yet another of Ngata's interests was the promotion of Māori sport, which he fostered by encouraging intertribal competitions and tournaments. Finally, Ngata also promoted Māori issues within the Anglican Church, encouraging the creation of a Māori bishopric. Throughout all this, Ngata also remained deeply involved in the affairs of his Ngāti Porou iwi, particularly as regards land development.

In 1927, Ngata was awarded a knighthood, only the third Māori (after Carroll and Pomare) to receive this honour.

In the 1928 elections, the United Party (a rebranding of the old Liberal Party, to which Ngata belonged) won an unexpected victory. Ngata was returned to Cabinet, becoming Minister of Native Affairs. He was ranked third within Cabinet, and occasionally served as acting Deputy Prime Minister. Ngata remained extremely diligent in his work, and was noted for his tirelessness. Much of his ministerial work related to land reforms, and the encouragement of Māori land development. Ngata continued to believe in the need to rejuvenate Māori society, and worked strongly towards this goal. In 1929, both Ngata's wife and eldest son died of illness - this had a great impact on Ngata, but he eventually returned to his former level of activity.

In 1932, however, Ngata and his Department of Native Affairs were coming under increasing criticism from other politicians. Many believed that Ngata was pressing ahead too fast, and the large amount of activity that Ngata ordered had caused organizational difficulties within the department. An inquiry into Ngata's department was set up, and in the course of the investigation, it was discovered that one of Ngata's subordinates had falsified accounts. Ngata himself was criticised for a disregard for official regulations, which he had often felt were inhibiting progress. It was also alleged that Ngata had shown favouritism to Ngāti Porou, although no real evidence of this was ever presented. Ngata, while denying any personal wrongdoing, accepted responsibility for the actions of his department and resigned from his ministerial position.

Many Māori were angry at Ngata's departure from Cabinet, believing that he was the victim of a Pākehā attempt to undermine his land reforms.

Although Ngata had resigned from Cabinet, he still remained in Parliament. In the 1935 elections, the Labour Party was triumphant - Ngata went into Opposition, although the new Labour government retained many of his land reform programs. Ngata remained in Parliament until the 1943 elections, when he was finally defeated by a Labour-Ratana candidate, Tiaki Omana. He stood again for his seat in the 1946 elections, but was unsuccessful.

Despite leaving Parliament, Ngata remained involved in politics. He gave advice on Māori affairs to both Peter Fraser (a Labour Prime Minister) and Ernest Corbett (a National Minister of Māori Affairs), and arranged celebrations of the Treaty of Waitangi's centenary in 1940. In the Second World War, he once again helped gather Māori recruits. In 1950, he was appointed to Parliament's upper house, the Legislative Council, but was too ill by this time to take his seat.

Ngata died in Waiomatatini on 14 July1950. He is remembered for his great contributions to Māori culture and language. His image appears on New Zealand's $50 note.

This guy has gotta be one of my biggest heroes...look at all he did...wow he had 15 kids too...to the same women! chur bro impressive haha

Dame Whina Cooper

Dame Whina CooperONZDBE, (9 December1895 - March 26, 1994), was born Hohewhina Te Wake, daughter of Heremia Te Wake of the Te Rarawa iwi, at Te Karaka, Hokianga, in northern New Zealand.I am also from the Hokianga region and part Te Rarawa iwi..so we share the same bloodlines.

n September 1951 she was elected first president of the new Māori Women's Welfare League. The league's success was largely due to Whina’s efforts, and she became well-known throughout the country. In 1957 she stepped down as president and the annual conference rewarded her with the title Te Whaea o te Motu ("Mother of the Nation").

During the 1960s Whina Cooper worked on a local level around Auckland, but, with declining health, she kept largely out of the national spotlight. All this was to change in 1975, however, when a coalition of Māori groups asked her to lead them in a protest against the loss of Māori land. She agreed, and proposed a hikoi - a symbolic march from the northern tip of the North Island to Parliament in Wellington at the other end of the island. During September and October 1975, the 80-year-old Whina Cooper again became nationally recognised, walking at the head of the hikoi from Te Hapua to Wellington.

He was born in Urenui, New Zealand, the only child of William Henry Buck. He was raised by William and his wife Ngarongo-ki-tua, though she was not his biological mother. According to local custom, when the couple found themselves unable to have children, one of Ngarongo's relatives, Rina, became part of the household and produced a child for the couple. Rina died soon after her child was born, and Ngarongo raised Peter as her own.

Peter Buck was descended on his Māori (maternal) side from the Taranaki iwi of Ngati Mutunga, whose elders renamed him Te Rangi Hīroa in honour of a notable ancestor. His paternal ancestry was English and Irish. Though he was largely brought up within the Pākehā community, Ngarongo-ki-tua and his great aunt Kapuakore instilled a love of Māori tradition and language in him.

After Ngarongo's death in 1892 he moved with his father to the Wairarapa. In 1896 he started attending Te Aute College, a school that produced many Māori leaders of the time. In 1899 he was named dux and passed a medical examination, entitling him to attend the University of Otago Medical School. He was later associated with the Young Māori Party.

Buck did well at Otago Medical School, where he also excelled in sport, becoming national long jump champion in 1900 and 1903. He completed his MB and ChB in 1904, and an MD six years later. During this time, in 1905, he married Irish-born Margaret Wilson. Their long marriage was often fiery, but was strong, and it was Margaret who often gave the impetus to Peter's career.

In November 1905 Buck was appointed as a medical officer to the Māori, working under Maui Pomare, initially in the southern North Island, then in the far north. Between them Pomare and Buck campaigned successfully to improve sanitation in the small Māori communities around the country.

In 1909, Hone Heke Ngapua, Member of Parliament for Northern Māori died suddenly. Buck was singled out by Native Minister James Carroll to be his replacement. Buck accepted and was elected, becoming a member of the Native Affairs Committee. He did not seek re-election in 1914 and left parliament. By this time, Buck had developed an interest in Pacific Island peoples, working briefly as a medical officer in both the Cook Islands and Niue during parliamentary breaks.

During the First World War, Buck helped in the recruitment of a Māori volunteer contingent. Buck joined this contingent as medical officer, travelling to the Middle East in 1915. He took part in the Battle of Gallipoli, later being awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his heroics. He later saw action in France and Belgium, before being posted to the No 3 New Zealand General Hospital at Codford, England in 1918.

Returning to New Zealand, Buck was appointed as Chief Maori Medical Officer, and in 1921 was named director of the Maori Hygiene Division in the Department of Health.

Now that guy was smart look at how many letters were after his name and all his studies!!

Campbell was born in Hawera, Taranaki. As a young child he lived near his mother’s Wai-o-Turi marae at Whenuakura, just south of Patea, and also spent much of his time with whanau at his father’s Taiporohenui marae, near Hawera.

Like many young New Zealand boys, he dreamed of playing for the All Blacks, and began playing rugby, but his mother vetoed his participation. While he was talented at several other sports, such as softball, squash and table tennis, his passion turned out to be golf.

He began playing golf at age 7, on the Patea golf course which had the greens fenced to keep sheep off them. He was introduced to the game by an uncle, Roger Rei, but was also undoubtedly influenced by his father Tom Campbell who was a single-figure handicapper. The family moved south to Titahi Bay and Campbell developed his skills in junior ranks at Paraparaumu. He attended school at Mana College but left without qualifications.

He began representing New Zealand in international amateur competitions in 1988, and turned professional in 1993. Two years later, in his first full season on the European Tour, he had a two-shot lead after the third round of The Open Championship, but faded to a final-round 76. He nonetheless remained in contention until the final hole, missing a playoff with Costantino Rocca and John Daly (eventually won by John Daly) by one stroke. Not long after that Open, he developed wrist problems, dropping dramatically in form, and did not fully recover until 1998.

He eventually established himself as a solid tour performer, finishing fourth on the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) in 2000, and again finishing in the top ten of the Order of Merit in 2002.

The year 2005 started as if it would be Campbell’s annus horribilis but it developed into his annus mirabilis. He never made the cut in his first five 2005 tournaments, averaging 75 strokes in the first rounds of each of those tournaments. Then suddenly there was a turnaround, and he missed only one cut in the next 16 tournaments. He finished in the top six of the Open Championship and US PGA, and recorded top fives in three other tournaments.

And then there was the 2005 US Open. In order to make it to Pinehurst, Campbell had to go through sectional qualifying. He took advantage of the fact that the United States Golf Association, the organizers of the US Open, introduced European qualifying for the first time. He had to sink a 6-foot birdie putt on the last hole of qualifying to secure his place in the US Open.

He ended the third round four strokes behind Retief Goosen, the event's defending champion who looked ready for a coronation on Sunday. On the final day, Goosen ballooned to an 81. Campbell shot 69 (1 under par) for the final round and was the only golfer in the last two pairings of the day to break 80. Campbell's main competition turned out to be Tiger Woods, who at one point closed to within one shot of Campbell.

In the end, Woods was undone by bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes, and Campbell won his first major by two shots, carding even par of 280. With his win, he became only the second New Zealander to win a major (after Bob Charles), and also the first winner of the US Open since Steve Jones in 1996 who entered the event via sectional qualifying.

Two months later, in August, Campbell demonstrated he is consistently one of the world's top contenders when he tied for 6th in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, won by Phil Mickelson. It has long been said that the cream rises to the top in majors, and this was no exception, with eight of the top 10 finishers having previously won a major.

On October 29, 2005, Campbell was awarded with the Honorary Life Membership of The European Tour for his U.S. Open win.

In the semi final he faced the formidable Retief Goosen who the previous day had recorded an overwhelming 12 and 11 win over Mark Hensby. Campbell defeated Goosen 7 and 6 and the next day beat Irishman Paul McGinley 2 and 1 in the final to take the championship and win the £1,000,000 richest prize in golf. He became only the fourth golfer to win the US Open and the World Match Play titles in the same year, and the win moved him to the top of the European Order of Merit, ahead of Goosen. He finished the year ranked second on the Order of Merit.

Campbell and wife Julie and sons Thomas and Jordan have homes in his native New Zealand, at Sydney in Australia which is Julie's hometown, and in Brighton, England.

Born in Donnybrook, Western Australia to Desrae Hughes, a Māori mother and Tim Castle, an English-Australian father, Castle-Hughes was four years old when her family moved to New Zealand; her parents (who had never married) later separated. Castle-Hughes became a New Zealand citizen in 2001. She has three younger brothers and a younger sister. Her siblings include Rhys (15), Liam (11), Maddisyn (6), and Qayde (11 months). She is currently living in Papakura, Auckland and was once a student of Penrose High School, and Rosehill College, both in Auckland.

In October 2006, it was announced that Castle-Hughes was expecting a child in 2007 with her boyfriend of three years, 19-year-old Bradley Hull. [4][5] At 17 years old she gave birth to a girl named Felicity-Amore on April 25, 2007. [6][7]

Describing himself as "part Māori, part European" [1], Clement spent his formative years in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. Moving to New Zealand's capital, where he studied drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington, Clement met fellow student Taika Waititi (a.k.a. Taika Cohen) with whom he went on to form the Humourbeasts.

In 2004 the Humourbeasts toured New Zealand in a stage show titled The Untold Tales of Maui[2], rewriting the traditional Maori legends of Maui. The duo were the recipients of New Zealand's highest comedy honour, the Billy T Award, in 1999.

Clement has starred in a number of television commercials internationally and provided voiceovers for many others in New Zealand. In 1999, Clement was a Radio Awards Winner as writer for Trashed, for Channel Z, Wellington.[3] In 2000 he was given a Special Radio Awards Commendation for The Sunglass Store.[4] He also was a writer and cast member of the television shows Skitz and Tellylaughs in New Zealand.

Born at Pakaraka south of Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands, Heke was a highly influential chief of the Ngā Puhitribe. He grew up in the Kaikohe area, scarcely surviving the vicissitudes of tribal warfare. As a youth, he attended the mission school at Kerikeri and came under the influence of the missionary, Henry Williams. Subsequently he, his wife and children were converted to Christianity and Hone became a lay preacher.

However, it was as a warrior that Hone Heke established his reputation. He took part in the first battle of Kororareka in 1830, in Titore's expedition to Tauranga, and fought with Titore against Pomare II in 1837.

Māori discontent grew after the signing of the treaty. The capital of the new colony was shifted from Okiato to Auckland with the corresponding loss of revenue for the Bay of Islands. The imposition of customs duties, the banning of the felling of kauri trees and government control of the sale of land all contributed to an economic depression for Māori. Furthermore it became clear that the British considered the authority of the chiefs to be subservient to that of the The Crown although the treaty promised equal partnership.

As a signal of his unhappiness with the plight of Māori, Hone Heke chopped down the flagpole carrying the British flag that flew over Kororareka. The British interpreted this as an act of rebellion and soon the two peoples were at war. In the time space of 6 months Hone Heke actually chopped the flagpole down three times. To prevent this from happening yet again, the Crown ordered in a battalion of British soldiers to defend it. Heke created a diversion with the help of Kawiti and, whilst the soldiers were fighting on the beach, Heke and a few others crept towards the flagpole and cut it down for the fourth time. This was the beginning of the Flagstaff War.

Heke took an active part in the early phases of the conflict, but he was severely wounded during the Battle of Te Ahu Ahu and did not rejoin the fighting until the closing phase of the Siege of Ruapekapeka some months later. Shortly afterwards, Heke and his ally, Kawiti met with their principal Māori opponent, Tāmati Wāka Nene and negotiated a ceasefire, which they then imposed upon the British. This did not prevent the governor, George Grey from presenting it as a British victory. Despite this, Heke and George Grey were reconciled at a meeting in 1848.

Hone Heke retired to Kaikohe where he died of tuberculosis two years later. He is still regarded as a great leader by the Ngā Puhi and many of the Māori people. To this day, his burial place remains a secret known only to a few people although this is subject to considerable speculation.

Pākehā MāoriFrederick Edward Maning wrote a near contemporaneous account of Hone Heke in A history of the war in the north of New Zealand against the chief Heke, although it was written primarily with an aim to entertain rather than with an eye to historical accuracy.

HONE HEKE IS FROM MI IWI OR TRIBE AND IS A DESCENDANT OF MINE. HE MAKES ME PROUD!!

Hongi Hika (1772?–1828) was a New ZealandMāorirangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngapuhiiwi (tribe). Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars, but also encouraged Pākehā (European) settlement, patronised New Zealand's first missionaries, introduced Māori to Western agriculture and helped put Te Reo (the Māori language), into writing. He travelled to England and met King George IV. Hongi Hika's military campaigns, and the other Musket Wars were one of the most important stimuli for the British annexation of New Zealand and subsequent Treaty of Waitangi with Ngapuhi and many other iwi. He was a pivotal figure in the period when Māori history emerged from myth and oral tradition and Pākehā began to settle rather than just visit. Contents

Hongi Hika was born at Kaikohe into one of the chiefly families of the Ngapuhi, being a son of rangatira Te Hotete. Hongi Hika once said he was born in the year explorer Marion du Fresne was killed by Māori—in 1772—though other sources place his birth around 1780. His name can mean fish smell (this does not have an offensive connotation in Māori).

Hongi Hika rose to prominence as a military leader in the Ngapuhi campaign, lead by Pokaia, against the Te Roroahapu of Ngāti Whātua iwi in 1806–1808. In over 150 years since the Maori first begun sporadic contact with Europeans, firearms had not entered into widespread use. Ngapuhi held trials with small numbers of them in 1808, and Hongi Hika was present later that same year on the first occasion that muskets were used in action by Māori. This was at the battle of Moremonui, and was not a success—the Ngapuhi using them were overrun by the opposing Ngāti Whātua while reloading. Those killed included two of Hongi Hika's brothers and Pokaia, and Hongi Hika and other survivors only escaped by hiding in a swamp until Ngāti Whātua called off the pursuit as an act of mercy.

Within the next four years Hongi Hika became Ngapuhi's war leader, and in 1812 he led a large taua (war party) to the Hokianga against Ngāti Pou who had eaten some of his relations. Despite his earlier experiences he seems to have become convinced of the value of muskets after experimenting with them during this campaign.

Ngapuhi controlled the Bay of Islands, the first point of contact for most Europeans visiting New Zealand in the early 19th century. Hongi Hika protected early missionaries and European seamen and settlers, arguing the benefits of trade. He befriended Thomas Kendall—one of three lay preachers sent by the Church Missionary Society to establish a Christian toehold in New Zealand.

In 1814 Hongi Hika visited Sydney, Australia, with Kendall and met the local head of the Church Missionary Society Samuel Marsden. Hongi Hika invited Marsden to establish the first Anglican mission to New Zealand in Ngapuhi territory. In 1819 he sold land at Kerikeri to the Church Missionary Society. He personally assisted the missionaries developing a written form of te reo. Hongi Hika himself never converted. In later life, in exasperation with teachings of humility and non-violence, he described Christianity as “a religion fit only for slaves”. He protected the Pākehā Māori Thomas Kendall when he effectively “went native”, taking Māori wives and participating in Māori religious ceremonies. Though Hongi Hika encouraged the first missions to New Zealand, virtually no Māori converted to Christianity for a decade; large scale conversion of northern Māori only occurred after his death.

While in Australia Hongi Hika studied European military and agricultural techniques and purchased muskets and ammunition. From 1818 he introduced European agricultural implements and the potato, using slave labour to produce crops for trade.

Hongi married the famous, blind Turikatuku, who was an important military advisor for him. He later took her sister Tangiwhare as additional wife. Both bore at least one son and daughter by him. It is uncertain if he had other wives.

In 1820 Hongi Hika travelled to England on board the whaling ship New Zealander. He spent 5 months in London and Cambridge where his mokoed visage made him something of a sensation. During the trip he met King George IV who presented him with a suit of armour. He continued his linguistic work, assisting professor Samuel Lee who was writing the first Māori–English dictionary. Written Māori maintains a northern feel to this day as a result—for example the sound usually pronounced "f" in Māori is written "wh" because of Hongi Hika's soft aspirated northern dialect.

Hongi Hika returned to the Bay of Islands in July 1821. En route he sold the gifts he was given in England and used the money to purchase gunpowder, 300 muskets and other weapons for his iwi. Using these within months of his return he led a force of 2,000 men to attack a pa (Māori fort) at Tamaki, killing 2,000 warriors and their women and children. Deaths in this one action outnumber all deaths in 25 years of the sporadic New Zealand Wars.

In early 1822 he led his force up the Waikato river where after initial success he was defeated by Te Wherowhero, before gaining another victory at Orongokoekoe. Te Wherowhero ambushed the Ngapuhi carrying Ngāti Mahuta women captives and freed them. In 1823 he made peace with the Waikato iwi and invaded Te Arawa territory in Rotorua. In 1824–5 Hongi Hika attacked Ngāti Whātua again, losing 70 men, including his eldest son Hare Hongi, in the battle of Te Ika a Ranganui. According to some accounts Ngāti Whātua lost 1,000 men—although Hongi Hika himself, downplaying the tragedy, put the number as 100. In any event the defeat was a catastrophe for Ngāti Whātua—the survivors retreated south.

They left behind the fertile region of Tamaki Makaurau with its vast natural harbours at Waitemata and Manukau—land which had belonged to Ngāti Whātua since they won it by conquest over a hundred years before. Hongi Hika left Tamaki Makaurau almost uninhabited as a southern buffer zone. Fifteen years later when Lt. Governor William Hobson wished to remove his fledging colonial administration from settler and Ngapuhi influence in the Bay of Islands, he was able to purchase this land cheaply from Ngāti Whātua, to build Auckland, a settlement that has became New Zealand’s principal city.

Although Māori population had always been, to some extent, mobile in the face of conquests of land, Hongi Hika altered the balance of power not only in the Waitemata but also the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga, Coromandel, Rotorua and Waikato to an extent which seems unprecedented within the memory of his contemporaries. Although he did not usually occupy conquered territory his campaigns and those of other musket warriors triggered a series of migrations, claims and counter claims which in the late 20th century would add to the disputes over land sales in the Waitangi Tribunal—not least Ngāti Whātua's occupation of Bastion Point.

In 1826 Hongi Hika moved from Waimate to conquered Whangaroa to found a new settlement. In part this was to punish Ngāti Uru and Ngāti Pou—who Hongi Hika displaced—for burning the ship Mercury and sacking the Wesleyan mission. However this shift soon split his followers into two factions, those who stayed in Waimate quarrelling with the colonists at Whangaroa.

In January 1827, Hongi Hika was shot in the chest during a minor engagement in the Hokianga. He invited those around him to listen to the wind whistle through his lungs and some claimed to have been able to see completely through him. Hongi Hika lingered for 14 months before dying of infection from this wound on 6 March 1828 at Whangaroa. The site of his burial was deliberately kept secret and news of his death was suppressed for some time. Hongi Hika was survived by 5 children.

The extent of Hongi Hika's plans and ambitions are unknown. Although he said during his visit to England, "There is only one king in England, there shall be only one king in New Zealand", this is likely bravado. In 1828 Māori lacked a national identity, seeing themselves as belonging to separate iwi. It would be 30 years before a Māori king would be acclaimed—in imitation of the English the Kingite movement opposed. That king was Te Wherowhero, a man who built his mana defending the Waikato against Hongi Hika.

Hongi Hika never attempted to establish any form of long term government over iwi he conquered and most often did not attempt to permanently occupy territory. It is likely his aims were opportunistic, based on increasing the mana Māori accorded to great warriors.

Hongi Hika is mostly remembered as a warrior, although the smaller but better recorded New Zealand Wars have tended to overshadow the Musket Wars he started. History has generally attributed Hongi Hika’s military success to his acquisition of muskets, comparing his military skills poorly with the other major Māori conqueror of the period, Te Rauparaha. However Hongi Hika had the foresight to acquire European weapons and pioneered the tactics of using them in Māori warfare—something which was a nasty surprise to British and colonial forces in later years. Hongi Hika's military conquests may not have endured, but his importance lies not only in his campaigns and the social upheaval they caused, but also his encouragement of early European settlement, agricultural improvements and the development of a written version of Māori.

Hongi Hika's whānau would continue to have a say in both settlement and warfare. Twelve years after Hongi Hika’s death, his nephew Hone Heke placed the first signature on the Treaty of Waitangi, legitimating British annexation. Five years later the first of the New Zealand Wars began when Heke turned on the European settlers with the weapons they had sold him and burned the settlement Hongi Hika had promoted at Kororareka.

HONGI HIKA IS ALSO FROM MY IWI OR TRIBE AND IM FROM HIS LINE!!!
AWESOME AY! NGAPUHI PRIDE!!Professor Witi Tame Ihimaera-SmilerDCNZMQSM (born 7 February1944), generally known as Witi Ihimaera, is a New Zealand author, and is often regarded as the most prominent Māori writer alive today.

Most of Ihimaera's work consists of short stories or novels. He has written a considerable number of stories, with the most notable being works such as Tangi, Pounamu, Pounamu, and The Whale Rider (the last of which became a film of the same name). His stories generally portray Māori culture in modern New Zealand. His work often focuses on problems within contemporary Māori society.

In 1995, Ihimaera published Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a semi-autobiographical work about a married father of two daughters coming out. He had come out to himself in 1984 and began the work, but out of sensitivity to his daughters, did not finish or publish it then.[1]

Billy T. James, MBE (born William James Taitoko, 1948; died August 7, 1991) was a well known and much loved entertainer and comedian from New Zealand. He was famous for his black singlet, yellow towel around the neck and a characteristic chuckle that he claimed was inspired by Māori children.

Never a man to take himself seriously, he once said: 'I'm half Māori and half Scottish: one half of me wants to get ****ed and the other half doesn't want to pay for it.' When Maori activist Hana Jackson, lamenting the Māori suicide rate, said that each suicide should each take a white person with them (widely misquoted as "Kill a white") he joked, 'What about a half-caste like me? What do I do, just wound myself?'

According to his daughter Cherie, on one occasion when someone arrived at his farm with a loaded shotgun, he treated it as if it were a game.

In the 1970s, James joined the musical showband, the Māori Volcanics, and toured internationally. While in Australia, he began his solo career and later returned to his native New Zealand. He changed his name due to pronunciation difficulties he apparently confronted in Australia, to "... something the Aussies could pronounce."

In the 1980s, Billy T became a household name through variety show Radio Times and the eponymousThe Billy T. James Show in 1984–6. His film career blossomed around this time, too, with a notable role in Ian Mune's Came a Hot Friday (as the Tainui Kid, a Māori who believes he is a Mexican bandito). In 1985, New Zealanders named him 'Entertainer of the Decade'.

His other spoofs, well-known amongst New Zealanders of his generation included, ‘Turangi Vice’ (where the ‘Vice Squad’ crack down on illegal trout fishing), ‘Chocky IV’ (an eating competition held in a boxing ring) and a memorable version of the American cop show 'CHiPs'.

In all these, he appeared with his collaborator Peter Rowley. Tony Holden directed the most memorable episodes in 1984.

James was an all-round entertainer. A talented singer and musician he also had a knack for drawing, which was used successfully in his shows.

After the 1985–6 season, his show was not renewed on TVNZ. It had appeared more expensive with location filming, and few of his cabaret-style segments.

He also wrote two books of comic strips , Billy T. James' Real Hard-Case Book (volumes 1 and 2), which appeared in the late 1980s.

He wrote and starred in a short-lived sitcom (created with studio exec Tom Parkinson of Isambard Productions), also called The Billy T. James Show, on then-fledgling New Zealand network TV3 in 1989–90. He starred opposite Ilona Rodgers and Mark Hadlow.

His poor health resulted in a heart transplant in 1988, after which he returned in a TV special, Billy T. James: Alive and Gigging, with special guest Sir Howard Morrison, to whom he was related.

James died of a heart attack in 1991 and there was some controversy over where he was to be buried.

William Tupu Awa, kaumatua (elder) of the Ngati Whawhakia hapu of Tainui travelled to the entertainer's residence and removed the body to a marae before its burial on the sacred Taupiri mountain near Turangawaewae marae, Ngaruawahia. This was contrary to the wishes of close relatives who had arranged a church service prior to transport to another marae.

His legacy lives on, not just in the memories of New Zealanders who remember him with great affection, but in events such as the Billy T Award where aspiring comedians compete to win the famous yellow towel.

Billy's daughter, Cherie James has followed in her father's footsteps, twice being nominated for best actress in the New Zealand TV awards.

Kereopa te Rau (?-1872) was a Māori Warrior. The name Kereopa is the Māori pronunciation of the Biblical name Cleopas. He was also nicknamed Kai whatu, the eye ball eater. He was a leader of the Pai Marire or Hau Hau faith.

Kereopa was probably baptised by Father Euloge Regnier during the 1840s and may have served as a police officer in Auckland during the 1850s. He is known definitely to have fought for the King Movement during the Invasion of the Waikato in 1863. His wife and two daughters were killed in the massacre by government forces following the attack on Rangiaowhia near Te Awamutu, and his sister was killed in defence of the Hairini Line a few days later.

Shortly afterwards he met up with the prophet Te Ua Haumene and converted to the Pai Marire faith. In December 1864 he was sent on a mission to the tribes of the East Cape. His instructions were to go in peace and avoid confrontations with the Pākehā. However at Opotiki the missionary Carl Volkner, a suspected government spy, was seized, hanged and decapitated. Immediately afterwards Kereopa preached a sermon from Volkner's pulpit during which the missionaries eyes were plucked out of his head and eaten. It should be pointed out that although this is abhorrent to modern thinking it was not inappropriate in the context of Māori warfare and gave Kereopa great mana or standing.

Kereopa and his Pai Marire followers then abandoned the people of Opotiki to the revenge of the Pākehā and retreated to the Urewera Mountains to preach their faith to the Tuhoe people. Later he tried to return to the Waikato but was repulsed by a war party of Ngāti Manawa and Ngāti Rangitihi. Following the resulting battle Kereopa is said to have eaten the eyes of three of the slain enemy. He then retreated to the Ureweras again where he found refuge and where he remained in hiding for the next five years.

However in the early 1870s the Ureweras were invaded by the government forces searching for Te Kooti and the Tuhoe were effectively conquered and subdued. Reluctantly they were forced to yield up Kereopa to Ropata Waha Waha. He was tried and hanged for Volkner's murder, 5 January1872.

Benjamin Lummis on June 1, 1978), was the winner in season one of NZ Idol in 2004. On May 10 Ben won New Zealand Idol, despite being in the bottom 3 multiple times. After winning NZ idol he released his first hit single 'They Can't Take That Away', which debuted in the NZ Top 40 Chart at #1 where it remained for seven weeks, selling over 4x platinum in the process. On June 15 saw the release of his debut album, One Road. Paul Ellis, later described the album as "the worst-sounding album of my entire career" [1]. One Road debuted at number one on the Top 40 Album Charts and stayed there for two weeks, making him the first ever local act to hold the top spot on the albums and singles chart simultaneously for more than a week. While it shipped 2 x platinum (30,000), it had only sold 8,000 copies after three months.

Music industry observers have commented that it is interesting how a performer can hold the top spot on the albums and singles chart simultaneously for more than a week and then be dumped by the record label less than three months later.

On May 20 2007, Ben began as one of the ten contestants on the new New Zealand reality competition show, Pop's Ultimate Star. The premise of the show taking past singing reality shows contestants and having them compete against each other. Ben was eliminated, and hence finished 6th, on the Sunday July 1 episode after losing to Emily Williams in an elimation contest between the two contestants with the lowest text votes. After this Ben announced his intentions to release a new single independently.

During September-October 2006 Anika did a tour of New Zealand that suited her well - just her and her acoustic guitar, playing to pub venues - which almost all sold out.

In October 2007, Anika released her third studio album, "In Swings The Tide". The album sees Anika self producing her own album for the first time and working alongside some of New Zealand's best musicians.

Trained in drama under the New Zealand Special Performing Arts Training Scheme, one of Morrison's earliest roles was in the 1988 film Never Say Die, opposite Lisa Eilbacher. Before this he had starred as a character called "Ricky" in the original TV1 soap opera called "Close To Home". He played Dr. Hone Ropata on the television soap operaShortland Street from 1992 – 1995; he was immortalized when another character rebuked him with the line "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr. Ropata!"

In 1994 he received attention as the violent and abusive Māori husband Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors, a film adaptation of Alan Duff's novel of the same name. The role won him international acclaim, and he received the 1994 award for best male performance in a dramatic role from the New Zealand Film and TV Awards. He reprised the role in the sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, for which he received the Best Actor award from the New Zealand Film Awards. He has appeared in supporting roles in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and The Beautiful Country (2004). In 2005, Morrison became the host of the talk show The Tem Show on New Zealand television.

Tāmati Wāka Nene was born to chiefly rank being connected to most of the notable Māori families in Tai Tokerau, the Bay of Islands and Hokianga regions of the North Island of New Zealand. He was related to Hongi Hika and could trace his ancestry by a number of lines back to Rāhiri, the founder of the Ngā Puhiiwi. He rose to be one of the war leaders of the Ngā Puhi taking an active part in the Musket Wars of 1818-1820. He successfully took his warriors on a rampage the whole length of the North Island, killing and plundering as he went until he reached Cook Strait. It is said that he advised Te Rauparaha to acquire muskets to enhance his influence.

In 1828 he successfully averted a war between the Māori of the Bay of Islands and the Hokianga. Then his older brother moved south to what is now the Auckland region, Hauraki, and soon after the paramount chief of the area died of wounds received in battle. Wāka Nene now became the highest ranking chief among his own people and one of the three primary chiefs of the area.

Early on he had recognized the value of trade with Pākehā and used his position as chief to protect and encourage both the traders and the Methodist missionaries. He was baptised in 1839 taking the name Thomas Walker or Tāmati Wāka. He also worked with the British Resident, James Busby to regularize the relationships between the two races. In 1835 he signed the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand which proclaimed the sovereignty of the United Tribes.

At the negotiations leading up to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi his influence was significant in persuading many of the tribes to sign the Treaty. However it is probable that he took the document at its face value; it is extremely unlikely that he saw himself ceding any of his authority as chief of his people.

The next few years saw a considerable loss of revenue and influence for the northern tribes. The capital of the new country was soon moved down to Auckland. Customs duties were also imposed. Then the Government began to interfere with the management of land, specifically they forbade any further felling of kauri trees, Agathis australis.

Most of the northern chiefs had serious concerns with workings of the new Treaty, Nene as much as Kawiti and Hone Heke. However Nene was still prepared to negotiate and to hope for the best. He gave Governor Robert FitzRoy promises to keep the peace on behalf of his fellow chiefs. So when Hone Heke cut down the flag pole for the fourth time Nene was mightily offended feeling that his mana had been trampled on.

Nene was already at war with Heke when the British troops began to arrive on the scene. They fought side by side, as allies but with almost complete incomprehension about each other's intentions. Nene described the British commander, Colonel Despard, as 'a very stupid man'. Despard on the other hand said "if I want help from savages I will ask for it". History tends to support Nene's opinion. Heke and Kawiti were only defeated once in the conflict, at Te Ahu Ahu on 12 June1845, by Nene with no help from the British.

After Ruapekapeka, Heke and Kawiti, still unbeaten, were ready for peace. It was Tāmati Wāka Nene they approached to negotiate with and with him that they concluded the terms. Nene then went to Auckland and told the Government that their war was over.

The Government lost a great deal of mana and influence in the North as a result of the war much of which flowed to Wāka Nene. He and Heke were recognized as the two most influential men in the Tai Tokerau region. He was given a pension of one hundred pounds a year and had a cottage built for him in Kororareka (Russell). He continued to advise and assist the Government on matters such as the release of Te Rauparaha in 1848.

When George Grey was knighted he chose Nene as one of his esquires. Then when he returned for his second term of governorship in 1860 he brought Nene a silver cup from Queen Victoria.

Tāmati Wāka Nene died 4 August1871 and is buried at Russell. The then Governor, George Bowen said the Nene did more than any other Māori to promote colonisation and to establish the Queen's authority.

Nepia was born in Wairoa in Hawkes Bay. While his birth certificate stated that Nepia was born 1905 he later claimed he had been born in 1908. After finishing primary school in Nuhaka, Nepia was to attend Te Aute College but went to the nearby Māori Agricultural College instead. In 1926 Nepia married Huinga Kohere. They had four children, three sons and a daughter. Nepia and his family settled on a dairy farm on the East Coast.

Nepia was selected for the Hawkes Bay provincial rugby team in 1922. At that time Hawkes Bay had one of the strongest teams in New Zealand and held the Ranfurly Shield. Nepia initially played on the wing but was later shifted to second-five eighth.

In 1924 Nepia was selected as a full-back for the All Blacks tour to the United Kingdom. Nepia was one of the stars of the tour. He played in all 32 games - being the only player to do so, and scored 77 points. As the team did not lose any matches, they came to be known as The Invincibles. Nepia was a fine full-back, with a safe pair of hands, a strong kicking game and a fierce tackle. Before games on the tour, he led the team's performance of a haka which had been composed for the tour.

Nepia was omitted from the 1928 All Blacks tour of South Africa, probably on racial grounds. Nepia returned to the All Blacks for tours to Australia in 1929 and against the British Lions in New Zealand in 1930. These were his last games for the All Blacks.

In 1947 the New Zealand rugby union held an amnesty allowing former league players to return to rugby union. Nepia played a first-class match in 1950 against a Poverty Bay side captained by his eldest son (also called George). This made Nepia the oldest New Zealander to play in a first-class game, and was the only time a father has played against his son in a first-class game.

Following his retirement from playing rugby Nepia became a referee and worked as a farm manager in the Wairoa district. In 1975 his wife Huinga died. Nepia lived out his final years with his son Winston in Ruatoria. He died in 1986.

On 26/27 March 1943 during the action at Tobaga Gap, Tunisia, Second Lieutenant Ngarimu, who was commanding a platoon in a vital hill feature strongly held by the enemy, led his men straight up the face of the hill and was first on the crest. He personally destroyed two machine-gun posts and owing to his inspired leadership several counter-attacks were beaten off during the night. He was twice wounded but refused to leave his men. By morning when only two of his platoon remained unwounded, reinforcements arrived. When the next counter-attack was launched, however, Second Lieutenant Ngarimu was killed.

Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu was an indigenous New Zealander, or Maori. He was of the Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui Tribes. The 28th Battalion was also know as "The Maori Battalion".

An essay competition has been set up in his name known as the Ngarimu VC Maori essay competition which comprises both Maori and English categories, and is open to students New Zealand wide.

Moananui-a-Kiwa attended Hiruharama school in the rural town of Ruatoria, on th east coast of the North Island, New Zealand.

It was presented to his parents by the governor general, Sir Cyril Newall, at a hui at Ruatoria on 6 October 1943 attended by government leaders, diplomatic representatives and local people.

The first of only two Victoria Crosses ever awarded to a Maori, it was displayed in the Tairawhiti Museum’s (Gisborne New Zealand) Prize of Citizenship Gallery during 2004.

Sir Maui Wiremu Pita Naera Pomare, KBE, CMG (1875 or 1876–1930) was a New Zealand doctor and politician, being counted among the more prominent Māori political figures. He is particularly known for his efforts to improve Māori health and living conditions.

At the time of Pomare's return to New Zealand there was considerable concern about public health, with the quality of housing and sanitation being a major political issue. The problem was particularly pressing in Māori communities and Pomare, as one of a small number of trained Māori doctors, was selected to serve as Māori Health Officer in the Department of Health. In this role he undertook a number of major campaigns to improve Māori health and met with considerable success. Pomare was highly active in the everyday work of his office, often walking to remote villages to give public speeches. His frequent lectures on health matters gave him considerable skill in oratory.

In contrast to some of his friends, notably Apirana Ngata, Pomare was not particularly concerned about the loss of Māori cultural identity. While Pomare and Ngata agreed on the need to modernise Māori living conditions, Pomare did not share Ngata's drive to preserve and protect traditional Māori culture and arts—instead Pomare believed that, eventually, Pākehā and Māori would merge to form a single culture incorporating the best aspects of both (a common ideal of his iwi).

In the 1911 election Pomare stood for Parliament in the Western Māori seat that covered Taranaki and the Waikato. Aided by support from the "Māori King", Mahuta Tawhiao, he was successful, displacing the incumbent Henare Kaihau. He was aligned with the new Reform Party that had won the largest number of seats. When the party formed a government Pomare was appointed to Cabinet as a minister without portfolio, a largely symbolic position. Pomare was quite popular with his party—in part this is likely because he did not promote an independent Māori cultural identity and that fitted well with the Reform Party's generally conservative views. (Meanwhile, Pomare's old friend, Apirana Ngata, was serving as an MP for the opposition Liberal Party.)

During World War I Pomare and Ngata joined forces to encourage Māori to join the armed forces. Pomare and Ngata both believed that by participating strongly in the war and fighting to defend the country, Māori would demonstrate to Pākehā that they were full citizens. Pomare angered many of his constituents, however, by eventually accepting conscription of Maori.

In 1916, Pomare was given ministerial responsibility for the Cook Islands, then a New Zealand territory. He lobbied strongly for more funding to be given to the islands and was responsible for considerable infrastructural improvement. He opposed, however, the idea of self-governance for the islands, saying that they were not yet ready for it. On a number of occasions he overrode laws passed by the islands' own council, causing a certain amount of complaint. On the whole, however, he was well-regarded in the Cook Islands, being presented with a silver cup at the end of his service.

Later, in 1923, Pomare was appointed Minister of Health, his highest office. Due to economic problems the Health Department's budget was low, making it difficult for Pomare to effect any important reforms. Nevertheless, he managed to make gains in some areas, particularly maternity care and equipment sterilisation.

In 1928 Pomare contracted tuberculosis. In the 1928 election Apirana Ngata conducted Pomare's campaign on his behalf, despite belonging to the opposition party. Pomare was re-elected. Later Pomare traveled to California in the hope that the climate would be good for his health. He died in Los Angeles on 27 June1930.

Pōtatau I, Māori King (Pōtatau Te Wherowhero) (circa 1800 – June 25, 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato tribes, the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known as simply Te Wherowhero and later took the name Pōtatau, becoming known as Pōtatau I after he became king.

Pōtatau was born as the son of Te Rauangaanga (Ngati Mahuta), who at the time had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. His mother, Te Parengaope, was a high chieftainess of the Ngati Koura people. Pōtatau was thus, the descendant of the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawawaka (canoes) which are said to have brought the Māori to New Zealand. Pōtatau grew up in a period of relative peace for the Waikato iwi, but he became heavily involved in the on-going conflict with Ngati Toa under Te Rauparaha.

Having descended from Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto chiefs who had claims of glory such as his father, Te Rauangaonga, Pōtatau himself became a revered battle leader against the Ngati Toa at Kawhia and Ngati Awa in Taranaki.

After enduring attacks from the musket-bearing Ngapuhi, led by Hongi Hika, the Waikato tribes were pushed south. This led to a series of skirmishes between the Waikato and Ngati Toa.

In 1821 Te Wherowhero led a force of Waikato-Maniapoto of 3,000 against Ngati Toa positions. Te Wherowhero received a further 1,500 from allies Whaingaroa (Raglan). This joint force succeeded in capturing a series of Ngati-Toa strongholds.

Early in 1822 the Waikato forces suffered a heavy defeat and Pōtatau was almost killed when he refused to retreat and abandon the body of a slain chieftain. The intervention of Te Rauparaha saved him, but subsequently he had to engage a number of enemy chiefs in single combat. Eventually his own people returned and a negotiated truce ensued. Pōtatau returned to the Waikato in time to take command in an unsuccessful defence of his tribe at Matakitaki (1822) against Ngapuhi, armed with muskets and led by Hongi Hika on their great rampage through the North Island of 1818 to 1823. Eventually Ngapuhi withdrew and the Waikato could re-establish themselves on their tribal land. By the time Ngapuhi re-appeared in the area some ten years later the Waikato had also acquired muskets and could therefore defend themselves successfully.

Te Wherowhero continued and systematically weakened the Ngati-Toa. When Ngati Toa left Kawhia and began their long migration to Taranaki. Te Wherowhero pursued and, although never forced to retreat, incurred large costs, in human life, in sieges which were sometimes unsuccessful. By 1834 Te Wherowhero made peace, this occurred at a time when missionaries were having a greater impact upon iwis in the Waikato. Te Wherowhero himself regularly attended services.

Although Te Wherowhero refused to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi when asked to he was not opposed to pākehā presence in his areas controlled. Initially Pōtatau favoured the pākehā arrivals in his territory: his daughter, Tiria, married a trader.

Te Wherowhero supported the Colonial government. In 1849 he signed an agreement with the governor, George Grey to provide Auckland with military protection should it become necessary.

In 1844 he hosted a large inter tribal gathering at Remuera. He built a house on the site of today's Auckland Domain and it witnessed many discussions and negotiations concerning the implementation of the Treaty.

The Waikato tribes sold land initially, Te Wherowhero sold some tribal land around Manukau. However in 1846 he protested vehemently about an edict which claimed land not actually occupied and cultivated by Māori as Crown property.

As more settlers came to New Zealand and the Colonial government passed such legislation Te Wherowhero, from the early 1850s, became less friendly to the Pākehā. This can be accredited at least partially due to the nature of these arrivals in the Waikato lands. These people arrived who encroached on Māori tribal lands with sometimes no formal jurisdiction or, consentual purchasing or gifting of the land with which to do so.

Te Wherowhero did not live to see the problems precipitated by these land disputed and the polarised opinions this caused. His people 3 years later faced the Invasion of the Waikato which saw a lot of the good relations and good will destroyed and confiscation of some of the Waikato's most fertile land.

In the early 1850s, a movement to establish a Māori King developed. This aimed to unite the Māori people and to act as a counterbalance to Queen Victoria. But above all the King Movement wanted to halt the sale and alienation of Māori land by the Pākehā Government.

Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was selected as King by a meeting of chiefs of the Maori tribes held at Pūkawa on the south-eastern shore of Lake Taupo in 1857. Pōtatau, in his old age, expressed initial reluctance but accepted at the wish of his own tribe Ngati Maniapoto[citation needed]. He was 'erected'sic[1] as king at Pūkawa in 1857 and installed as king during elaborate ceremonies held at his marae in Ngaruawahia in 1858.

Pōtatau himself wished to continue to work in co-operation with the British Government but many of his followers adopted a much more independent position. Gradually the two sides polarised and grew apart, culminating some five years later in warfare (see Invasion of the Waikato and New Zealand Land Wars)

In 1973, Rangihau was working for the University of Waikato's Centre for Maori Studies and Research looking for ways to preserve the Māori language. He was involved in setting up Māori-language pre-school groups in 1974, but they lasted less than a year. In 1975 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Māori. Rangihau became involved in the ministerial committee to prevent the decline in the number of Māori language speakers in New Zealand, and the scheme came to fruition with the kohanga reo scheme of Māori-language kindergartens in 1982.

After 1982, Rangihau became an advisor to the Maori Affairs Department. He encouraged Māori elders to contact their children and grandchildren in prisons and encourage them to return to their families once released. He facilitated research into Māori health.

Victoria University established a teaching and research position in his honour in 1989.

Eva Rickard (born Eva Kereopa) was most notably regarded for her decade long, very public civil disobedience campaigns to have ancestral lands alongside Raglan harbour returned to its rightful custodians, and to have Māorimana and culture recognized. During the Second World War, the New Zealand Government took land from indigenous Māori owners by acquisition for the purpose of a military airfield. Instead of these being handed back to its former owners (the Tainui Awhiro peoples) when no longer required for defence purposes, part of the land, a 62-acre block was turned into a public Raglan golf course in 1969. [2]

Throughout the 1970s Rickard tirelessly campaigned to raise public awareness about Māori land rights. After attempting to reoccupy this ancestral indigenous land in 1978 she was arrested for trespass along with another 19 Māori protesters, on the ninth hole of the Raglan golf course. This incident was captured by New Zealand television and was a defining moment in her public life. Their court appearance set off a chain of events which trailed through the courts amidst bitter argument at local and national level, but finally led to the return of the land to local Māori people. After the land was returned it became a focus for local job-training and employment programs, as well as a focus for the Māori sovereignty movement.

Rickard was an ardent advocate for women’s rights within Māoridom itself and encouraged other female activists to ignore traditional Māori protocol by calling for the rights for Māori women to speak at official Māori gatherings, including on the Marae. At her official Tangi where she was laid to rest on the land she had spent a decade fighting to have returned to her people, Māori activist Annette Sykes, when attempting to speak, had to endure cries of “you sit down, you have no right to speak.” Here Sykes stood up and publicly challenged men to recognise, the Mana of Māori women. [3]

Wynton "Kiwi" Rufer (born 29 December1962 to a Swiss father and a mother of Māori descent) was a New Zealand international footballer remembered as his country's greatest ever player, finishing his international career with 38 caps and 17 goals.

Rufer was also voted Oceania's Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992.

During the 1994-1995 season, Rufer left Bremen to join JEF United of Ichihara in the Japanese J.League, finishing as the club's leading scorer in 1995. However, when Rehhagel took on the task of resurrecting 1.FC Kaiserslautern's fortunes in 1996, he called upon Rufer to help fire the club back into the German top flight - Rufer's contribution helped the club win the Bundesliga II, although he left before Rehhagel remarkably won the Bundesliga the next season.

In 1997 he returned to his homeland, joining Central United and establishing his own coaching school, Wynrs, producing Kiwi football stars such as Mario Hofmann and Michael Fitzgerald, as well as women's international Annalie Longo.

Along with his brother Shane, Rufer took on player-coaching duties at North Shore United in 1998, before coaching the national Under-16 squad ahead of the 1999 Junior World Cup Finals. He was appointed player-coach of New Zealand's first professional football team, FC Kingz (later renamed Auckland Kingz), participating in the Australian Soccer League for two seasons before finally retiring in 2001, having been named Oceania's Player of the Century ahead of Frank Farina (Australia) and Christian Karembeu (New Caledonia/France).

Shelford next played for the All Blacks against France, though he had been selected to play Australia but withdrew due to injury. It was during only his second test for the All Blacks that he suffered a ripped scrotum after being rucked by a French player, which left one testicle hanging free. He also lost four teeth during the ruck. After discovering the injury to his scrotum, he calmly asked the physio to stitch up the tear and returned to the field before a blow to his head left him concussed and he left the field and watched the remainder of the game from the grandstand where he witnessed the All Blacks lose. [2][3]

In 1987, the first Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand. Shelford played in five of the six All Blacks games.

He first captained the side during the 1987 tour of Japan. During his captaincy of 14 games from 1987 to 1990, the All Blacks didn't lose a game, only drawing once against Australia in 1988.

After becoming captain, Shelford brought his teammates to Te Aute College, a Māori school, to see the students perform a traditional haka. Although the All Blacks had been performing hakas at the start of their matches since the team's inception, Shelford taught them the proper way to perform the "Ka Mate," the haka they still use to this day at the start of their matches.

In 1990, the team's selectors decided that he was not up to the standard for the team and was dropped after a two test series against Scotland. The general public were unhappy with this decision especially when the All Blacks lost the third test of their next series against Australia, ending a 17 test winning streak (and 49 game streak including non-tests) [4]. After this fans started appearing at games with signs saying "Bring Back Buck", this continues to this day at sporting events throughout New Zealand.

Although he never regained his place in the All Black side, he was the captain of the New Zealand XV that played Romania in the Soviet Union and New Zealand B team that played Australia. He had played 48 All Blacks games including 22 tests and had captained the side 31 times, including 14 tests. He also scored 22 tries in total in his All Blacks career.

He retired from playing all rugby in 1991 and coached for some time in Britain. He returned to New Zealand and was the assistant coach of the North Harbour team in 1997 and coach in 1998.

He has two children to his wife, Joanne, Lia (born: 1981) and Eruera (born: 1985) as well as having adopted his god-son, Mitchell Haapu (born: 1987).

On the 23rd of June Wayne Shelford revealed he is receiving treatment for the form of cancer known as lymphoma. Mr Shelford told Newstalk ZB's Murray Deaker he wants his privacy respected as he focuses on his recovery and said he will not be making any further personal statements[1].

Billy TK's began playing guitar at an early age, and was surrounded by talented young musicians during his family's frequent visits to Ratana Pā, who helped fulfill his lust for improving his skills on his instrument. He played gigs for friends and family during his high school years, and once he had finished school, he set to build his own band. The result of this was The Sinners with Ted Cash on drums, Sonny Ratana on bass, Harold Hine on rhythm guitar and lead vocalist Theo Swanson. The band played at 21st birthday parties and the like until being invited to play at Rickies nightclub in Palmerston North and other venues around the Manawatu. The Sinners were one of the first New Zealand bands to utilise distortion and similar guitar effects, and these effects would become a staple of Billy's guitar sound. It was around this time, in the mid-60s, that Billy TK's friend, Ara Mete, gave Billy a gift - his first fuzz box and treble booster. Billy quickly took it to an electrical shop in Palmerston North, where he had copies of both made. Billy was hooked on the sound, and his obsession for guitar effects only received more grounding once the Jimi Hendrix album Stone Free hit the airwaves in New Zealand, and Billy quickly made The Sinners learn all the tracks on the album.

After 4 years of playing together, The Sinners were reduced to a three piece band when Theo Swanson and Harold Hine both left, after which Billy TK also parted ways with the band to travel to Melbourne to set up a unit there called Compulsion with Paddy Beach and Reno Tehei. On Billy's return to New Zealand in May 1968, Billy TK auditioned for The Human Instinct, with Maurice Greer on vocals and bass player Frank Hay, and after playing for them once, he was allowed into the band. After a tour of the South Island and two changes of bass players, the band was ready to play the Auckland circuit, where they mesmerised their audiences with their edgy, heavily Hendrix influenced hard rock sound. The trio recorded three albums, Burning Up Years, Stoned Guitar and Pins In It, which made the band legendary in New Zealand.

In 1972 during a short tour of Australia, the band split after a series of disagreements on musical direction.

In 1972 he formed a new band, Billy TK's Powerhouse, playing in Wellington with former Blackfeather drummer Steve Webb from Australia, guitarist John Bilderbeck from Wanganui and Gav Collinge on bass. When Webb and Bilderbeck left, Powerhouse shifted base to Palmerston North, recruiting Ara Mete on rhythm guitar, Jamie Tait-Jamieson on keyboards, Bud Hooper on drums, Arnold Tihema on congas and lead vocals and Mahia Blackmore on vocals and percussion. The band later also featured Neal Storey (ex-Dragon) and Peter Kellington.

In April 1996 TK performed a song with Carlos Santana at an Auckland concert. He has worked with several bands including Dunedin Flying Nun band King Loser, with whom he recorded an album . He also recorded with hip hop band DLT. He continues to perform and has played at several Human Instinct reunion gigs.

Tamahori is of Māori ancestry on his father's side and of British ancestry on his mother's. His break as a filmmaker came with Once Were Warriors (1994), a gritty depiction of urban Māori life that was phenomenally successful in New Zealand. He then moved to Hollywood and directed the period thriller Mulholland Falls (1996), although this was not received well critically or commercially. This was followed by the successful wilderness film The Edge (1997) and Die Another Day (2002), the twentieth James Bond movie. He also directed numerous episodes of television shows, in particular an episode of The Sopranos during its second season.

On January 8, 2006, Tamahori, dressed as a woman, was arrested for allegedly soliciting in Los Angeles, by offering an undercover police officer oral sex. [1]. However, he was only charged with criminal trespass, having pled no contest in exchange for other charges being dropped. [2]

Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, on New Zealand's North Island. She has both Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents as she was adopted as an infant. She is the adopted daughter of an Irish mother and Māori father. In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.

Kiri married Desmond Park, whom she met on a blind date in Auckland in August 1967 and married six months later. The couple adopted two children, Antonia (1976) and Thomas (1979), named after Kiri's adoptive father. The couple divorced in the late 1990s.

In 1965 she won the prestigious Mobil Song Quest, entered by all types of singers, jazz, pop and classical, with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London.

In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under James Robertson, who is said to have stated that Te Kanawa did not have any singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences.[1]

Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in the U.S. state of New Mexico then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her in the role of the Countess in Figaro, which opened on 30 July1971. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression."[3]

But on 1 December1971 at Covent Garden, Kiri te Kanawa repeated the Santa Fe triumph and created an international sensation in the same role: "with 'Porgi amor' Kiri knocked the place flat."[4] It was followed by performances as the Countess at the San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972, while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello took place on short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute.

Te Kanawa has always been popular among New Zealanders, but in a 2003 interview with the Melbourne-based Herald Sun she was critical of the high rate of welfare dependence among the Māori people, angering some of her compatriots.[5]

Te Kanawa sued for breach of contract by Leading Edge in 2007 after cancelling a concert with Australian singer John Farnham after learning that his fans sometimes threw their underwear on stage, which he would then proudly display.[6] She won the suit, in part because no binding contract was made, but over $100,000 court costs were awarded against the Mittane holding company which employs and manages Te Kanawa.[7][8]

Kiri founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation with the vision "that talented young New Zealand singers and musicians with complete dedication to their art may receive judicious and thoughtful mentoring and support to assist them in realising their dreams." [9]

The Foundation manages a trust fund to provide financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians.

Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c.1820 - 1891) was a Māori leader and the founder of the Ringatureligion.

Te Kooti's early years are obscure. He was born in the Gisborne region. In 1865 Te Kooti fought for the government forces suppressing the local Māori Pai Marire. However, he was arrested as a spy and exiled to the Chatham Islands, together with the rebels he had been fighting against. He was never tried and took every opportunity to demand a trial, some say he got his name from this, "Kooti" pronounced "Courty", others that it was a Māori version of the last name "Coates". Te Kooti operated a trading boat between Auckland and Gisborne, afterwards operating another boat that traded up the east coast and between Gisborne and Auckland. The fact that he was trading in direct competition to a local Pākehā trader is also given as a reason for his exile without trial. If he did supply the Pai Marire with guns as is alleged, he also took part in a battle against them. There are allegations he fired blanks on this occasion.

While in exile Te Kooti experienced visions and became a religious leader. He also performed some sleight of hand, such as using matchheads to set his hand on fire above the altar during a church service. These tricks swayed the Māori prisoners on Chatham Islands, and when some of the chiefs present on the island were sent back to the mainland, Te Kooti took advantage of the situation to become the local leader. Only Te Kooti's uncle was not impressed by these tricks, which he saw right through. Nevertheless, Te Kooti established a faith named Ringatu [Upraised Hand] which gained many followers, and is still present in New Zealand society today.

Expecting a resupply boat, Te Kooti prophesied that two boats would soon arrive to take them off the island. On July 4, 1868 Te Kooti led a dramatic prison break, and together with 168 other prisoners seized the schooner Rifleman, including supplies and rifles, scuttling another and set off back to the North Island. This was a bloodless coup, on Te Kooti's strict orders, except for one Chatham Island sergeant who was killed anyway because of a personal grievance. The Pākehā sailors were allowed to live and set sail for the coast of New Zealand with help from the Māori. The sailors attempted to sail towards Wellington, but with Te Kooti's expertise at sailing were caught and told they would be thrown overboard if they did not keep a course for the East Coast. On the fourth day at sea, the ship was becalmed, and Te Kooti declared that a sacrifice was needed. Te Kooti duly had his uncle thrown overboard and soon afterwards the ship made headway again.

Upon their arrival at Whareongaonga in Poverty Bay, Te Kooti asked the King movement and the Tuhoe tribes for refuge but was rejected. He also sought dialogue with the colonial government but was rebuffed. He sent a statement to the effect that if the government wanted a war, he would give it to them in November.

On November 10, 1868 Te Kooti and his followers attacked the township of Matawhero on the outskirts of Gisborne. Some 54 people were slaughtered, including women and children. The dead included 22 local Māori as well as European settlers. This was probably a revenge attack, motivated by Te Kooti's false imprisonment as a spy.

Te Kooti was then pursued by colonial and sympathetic Māori forces. His community was surrounded at Ngatapa, but the Ngāti Porou contingent refused to fight him and Te Kooti and his warriors managed to escape.

From there, Te Kooti was chased to Te Porere. There, he set up a pa [fortified village] and withstood an attack from the British forces, including some opposing Maori troops, under Major Kepa. After much fighting, the British broke through into the pa and Te Kooti had to abandon ship, leaving many killed and wounded. Indeed, Te Koot himself was shot in the finger on his escape.

From there, Te Kooti escaped into the Urewera and made an alliance with the Tuhoe leadership.

From 1869 to 1872 Te Kooti and his followers raided throughout the central North Island while being pursued by their colonial and Māori enemies. His power was only broken once his Tuhoe allies were systematically conquered by his enemies. But once again Te Kooti managed to escape, this time to the King Country where he spent the next decade under the protection of the Māori King. Te Kooti used this time to develop his religion.

In 1883 Te Kooti was pardoned by the government and began to travel New Zealand. His followers grew and he decided to return to his old home. However, his past deeds had not been forgotten and the local magistrate arrested him and imprisoned him, citing an anticipatory breach of the peace. Te Kooti was released on the condition that he never again try to return to his old home. Te Kooti appealed this decision, and was initially successful, but in 1890 the Court of Appeal ruled that the terror and alarm that Te Kooti's reappearance would have entailed justified the magistrates decision. No doubt the Court was influenced by Te Kooti's preferred mode of transport, a white charger, and his large entourage.

She was born at Whatiwhatihoe, near Pirongia, daughter of Te Tahuna Herangi and Tiahuia, who was daughter, by his principal wife, of the second Māori King, Tawhiao Te Wherowhero. Her name came from the phrase Puea ahau I te ao, which means I shall rise to the surface of the world; however, she was known to her family as Te Kirihaehae. Her Uncle Mahuta played a major role in her upbringing.

As the eventual successor to her grandfather, she was educated in the traditional Māori ways. At age 12 she began attending Mercer Primary School and then went on to attend Mangere Bridge School and Melmerly College in Parnell. She was fluent in both the Māori and English languages.

When her mother died in 1898, Te Puea returned home reluctantly, supposedly to take her place. However, being young and believing also that she was dying of tuberculosis, she rejected the traditional role expected of her and cut herself off from her people.

This phase passed and in 1911 she returned to her people and resumed her hereditary role. Her first task, the one that re-established her mana among her people, was to successfully campaign on behalf of Maui Pomare in his election bid to become the Kingite Member of Parliament.

She was soon acknowledged as one of the leaders of the Kingitanga Movement and worked to make it part of the central focus of the Māori people. She also began farming at Maungatawhiri. Te Puea was firmly opposed to conscription when it was introduced in 1917 and provided a refuge at her farm for those who refused to be conscripted into the New Zealand Army.

Following the influenza epidemic of 1918, she took under her wing some 100 orphans, who were the founding members of the community of Turangawaewae at Ngaruawahia. It was through Turangawaewae that Te Puea began to extend her influence beyond the Waikato Region. The construction of its carved meeting house was strongly supported by Sir Apirana Ngata and the Ngāti Porou people. She was also friends with the Prime Minister, Sir Gordon Coates, and with noted journalistEric Ramsden. It was through her friendship with Ramsden that articles about her and her work began to appear in the national newspapers. In these she was usually identified as Princess Te Puea, a title that she herself deplored, saying that the role of princess does not exist in Māoritanga.

During 1913 & 1914 the Māori community suffered a smallpox epidemic. The main problem though was that many of them believed that the disease was a punishment from displeased spirits & refused to go to Pākehā hospitals. In response to this Te Puea set up a small settlement of nikau huts devoted to nursing back to health. This was a perfect success, not a single person died & the isolation of the village largely prevented spread of disease.

Te Puea was awarded a CBE in 1937. Then a year later yet another carved meeting house was opened by the Governor General, Lord Galway.

In 1940 she bought a farm near Ngaruwahia and began developing it provide an economic base for the Turangawaewae community. It was here that she began teaching the beliefs that would sustain the King Movement: work, faith (specifically the Pai Marire faith, which became strongly established in the Waitako region), and pan-Māori unity through the King Movement. Te Puea always stressed the importance of iwi over hapu (the tribe over the sub-tribe or family grouping).

1940 saw the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the document that founded modern New Zealand. The Government had planned nationwide celebrations. Initially Te Puea was in favour of these celebrations. However various promises made by the government about the nature of the event were not kept and the Tainui withdrew. At the time she said:

This is an occasion for rejoicing on the part of the Pākehā and those tribes which have not suffered any injustice during the past hundred years.

Te Puea was raised by people who had fought to resist the government Invasion of the Waikato in 1860 and by people who had lived through the bitter years that followed. She had little reason to love or trust the Pākehā. However as time went by she came to see the need for reconciliation. In 1946 after nearly twenty years of negotiation she accepted on behalf of Tainui a settlement offered by the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser of NZ$10,000 a year in perpetuity. She recognized this as a paltry offering; even then the land unjustly confiscated from the Tainui was worth billions of dollars. However the payment acknowledged that a grievous wrong had been done to her people.

Te Puea died at her home after a long illness. During her life time she had raised the King Movement to national significance. It is said that even now, decades later, her spirit can still be felt in the meeting house at Turangawaewae.

Hone Tuwhare was born in Kaikohe, Northland, into the Nga Puhi tribe (hapu Ngati Korokoro, Ngati Tautahi, Te Popoto, Uri-o-hau). When his mother died his father moved to Auckland, where Hone attended primary schools in Avondale, Mangere and Ponsonby. He spoke Maori until he was about 9, and his father, an accomplished orator and storyteller in Maori, encouraged his son’s interest in the written and spoken word, especially in the rhythms and imagery of the Old Testament.

Beginning in 1939, Tuwhare began to write whilst an apprentice at the Otahuhu Railway Workshops, encouraged by fellow poet R. A. K. Mason.

In 1956, Tuwhare began writing seriously after he resigned the Communist party. His first, and often reprinted, work - No Ordinary Sun - was published in 1964 to widespread acclaim and was reprinted ten times during the next thirty years—one of the most widely read individual collections of poems in New Zealand history.

When Tuwhare’s poems first began to appear in the late 1950s and early 1960s they were recognised as a new departure in New Zealand poetry, cutting across the debates and divisions between the 1930s and post-war generations. Much of their originality came from the Maori perspective. The poems were marked by their tonal variety, the naturalness with which they could move between formal and informal registers, between humour and pathos, intimacy and controlled anger and, especially, in their assumption of easy vernacular familiarity with New Zealand readers.

During the 1970s Hone became involved in Maori cultural and political initiatives. His international reputation also grew: there were invitations to visit both China and Germany, leading, among other opportunities, to the publication of Was wirklicher ist als Sterben in 1985.

While his earlier poems were kept in print, new work was constantly added. Hone's play, "In the Wilderness Without a Hat", was published in 1991. Three further collections of poetry followed: Short Back and Sideways: Poems & Prose (1992), Deep River Talk (1993), and Shape-Shifter (1997). In 1999 he was named New Zealand's second Te Mata Poet Laureate, the outcome of which was Piggy-Back Moon (2002).

Hone Tuwhare was named New Zealand's second Te Mata Poet Laureate in 1999. At the end of his two year term he published Piggy Back Moon (2001) which was shortlisted in the 2002 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Tuwhare was among ten of New Zealand's greatest living artists named as Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Artists at a ceremony in 2003.

In 2003 Hone Tuwhare was awarded one of the inaugural Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement for poetry. The other winners were Janet Frame of Dunedin for fiction; and Michael King of Opoutere on the Coromandel Peninsula for non-fiction . Each writer received $60,000. The awards are aimed at New Zealand writers who have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand literature.

Tuwhare received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from The University of Auckland in 2005.

Wiremu Kingi was involved in the major disturbances and migrations caused by the Musket Wars. He and his father probably fought alongside Te Rauparaha during his tribe's journey from Kawhia to Waikanae. However, he is mainly associated with Waitara in Northern Taranaki.

In 1839 Colonel William Wakefield toured the area and persuaded the Māori chiefs to sign various deeds which effectively transferred ownership of most of the tribal land to the New Zealand Company. To what extent this was deliberate fraud and to what extent it was an example of two cultures failing to understand each other is hard to say. However, the transaction was to cause a great deal of trouble and eventually led the two people to war.

However, Te Atiawa initially accepted the changes brought about by the arrival of the Pākehā and their new government. In May 1840 their chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Then during 1843-44 they built a large and beautiful Christian church for the missionaries. However, disenchantment began when the Land Commissioner, William Spain, awarded the New Plymouth settlers 200 km² of tribal land around New Plymouth. Wiremu Kingi wrote to the Governor making it clear that they would not yield their tribal lands particularly around Waitara. Their case was somewhat weakened at least in the minds of the settlers because the bulk of the tribe were then living around Waikanae about 250 km to the south. However, despite opposition from the Government, they returned to Taranaki in 1848 and settled around Waitara.

Over the next eleven years both the government and the settlers made numerous attempts to get their hands on more of the tribal land. They were restricted to about 20 km² around New Plymouth. Wiremu Kingi remained firm in his refusal to part with any of the tribal land. Gradually relations between the two peoples deteriorated.

In 1859 a minor tribal chief, Teira, who was feuding with Kingi, made an offer of some land directly to the Governor, Thomas Gore Brown. Despite knowing that the chief's claim to the land was highly dubious, the government accepted the offer. Not all the opposition came from the Māori; many influential missionaries such as Octavius Hadfield and a previous Chief Justice, William Martin, maintained that the purchase was illegal.

The stakes grew as Kingi refused to budge. Prominent settlers called for him to be surrounded, deported and, if he fired one shot, hanged.

Despite this, the Government pressed ahead and sent in surveyors, declaring that once the survey was complete, the land would be occupied by the military to prevent any Māori occupation. They were blocked by the Te Atiawa people, so the army was sent in. The first shots of the First Taranaki War were fired on 17 March1860. The war lasted a year and decided nothing except that the Māori were better tacticians than the Pākehā. There followed an uneasy truce when the government agreed to re-examine the question and, three years later, Governor George Grey renounced the purchase.

After the war Kingi withdrew inland beyond the areas influenced by the Pākehā, probably to the Pa of Rewi Maniopoto. It was to be twelve years before he returned to New Plymouth to make his peace with the Pākehā government. Afterwards he retired to Parihaka where he lived with the prophet Te Whiti o Rongomai for several years. His last years were spent at Kaingaru near Waitara where he died on 13 January1882.

Every subsequent investigation has justified the stand Wiremu Kingi took over his land at Waitara. As recently as August 2003 the New Plymouth District Council, which found itself owning 1.4 km² of the controversial land, decided to investigate the means by which it could be returned to Māori ownership.